Frozen blood plasma defroster



Nov. 26, 1963 M. v. BlsoRDl ETAL l FROZEN BLOOD PLASMA DEFROSTER FiledApril 7, 1960 JWVEN'ORS- MARIO V. BISORDI PAUL WINCHELL A 77E/PNE?United States Patent Of 3,112,387 FROZEN BLOOD PLASMA DEFROSTER Mario V.Bisordi, 812 Gramatan Ave., Mount Vernon, N.Y., and Paul Winchell, 9Althea Lane, Larchmont,

Filed Apr. 7, 1960, Ser. No. 20,593 1 Claim. (Cl. 21935) -This inventionconcerns a defrosting device for frozen blood, milk land other fluids.

The invention is particularly directed at a -device for defrostingcontainers of frozen blood plasma. Heretofore, when blood plasma hasbeen required for immediate transfusion to a patient it has beennecessary first to defrost and warm up the plasma which is normallypreserved in frozen form. l1`he defrosting process generally requiresthirty to forty-live minutes and requires continuous attention of aphysician. This means that the physician cannot give his whole time andattention to the patient and the administration of the plasma is delayeduntil it `is properly defrosted and warmed up.

The present invention has as a principal object to ,overcome theforegoing and other difficulties and disadvantages by providing adefrosting device for containers of blood plasma which operates quicklyand automatically without requiring attention of a physician so that ina few minutes the plasma is ready for administration to the patient.

A further object is to provide a defroster for blood plasma in whichAthe intensity of applied heat is adjustable.

Another object is to provide a defroster for a container of blood plasmain which ymeans are provided for rotating the container while it isbeing heated, so that the contents of the container are uniformly andhomogeneously warmed.

Still another object is to p rovide a defroster deyigerof.. s

the charater ldescribed wherein the speed of rotation of the containeris adjustable at will and the intensity of applied heat is alsoadjustable, the device being provided with means for automaticallyturning off the heat and rotation means at ythe end of a predeterminedtime. i

For further comprehension of the invention, and of the objects andadvantages thereof, reference will be had to the following Idescriptionand accompanying drawings, and to the appended claim in which thevarious novel features of the invention are more particularly set fonth.

In the accompanying drawings for-ming a material part of thisdisclosure:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a device embodying the invention.

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view on an enlarged scale taken on line2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a horizontal sectional View taken on line 3 3 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a diagram of an electrical circuit employed in the device.

lIn FIGS. 1-3, there is shown fthe device 10 including a casing having arectangular base 12 and a top cover 14 hinged to one side of the base bya hinge 16. Knob 18 on the cover facilitates opening the cover. Both thecover and base are formed of metal sheets 20, 22 lined with sheets 24,26 of asbestos, Fiberglas, .rock wool or other thermal insulationmaterial. FIhe bottom of the box is lined with a plastic sheet or plate28.

lSecured to the bottom plate 28 are four sockets 30 in which areremovably inserted four lamps or other suitable heating elements L1-L4.e011 side wall 21 is a heat control 23, a speed control 25 and timercut-out switch 27. Handles 32 secured to sides 19 and 21 of the basepermit :the device to be lifted and carried. IOn the rear wall 17 of thebase is mounted a motor 34 hav- 3,112,387 Patented Nov. 26, 1963 'iceing a shaft 36 extending horizontally forward. A ange 38 is secured tothe shaft 36 and to a larger circular disc 40 disposed to rotate in avertical plane.

Disc 40 carries a forwardly extending shelf 42 secured thereto by screws44. A pair of spaced spring fingers 46, 47 Iare secured to the disc forembracing removably a bottle, can or other type of container 48 of bloodplasma or other fluid. Another pair of spaced fingers 5.0, 51 secured todisc 40 engages the neck N of the container 48 closed by cap 49. Thecontrols 23 and 25 have control knobs 23a and 25*ab while switch 27 hasa switch handle 27a. A power cord 41 terminating in a plug 52 may beconnected to a suitable power supply to provide electrical energy forthe device.

fI'he several electrical components are connected in an electricalcircuit as shown in FIG. 4 to which reference is now made. Motor 34 isconnected in series with speed control 25 which is a rheostat, and withpower lines 53, 54 of power cord 41. Lamps L1-L4 are connected toarcuate pairs of contacts C1-C8 secured to a stationary insulated disc56 inside the housing 58 of control 23. Power lines 53, 54 are connectedvia wires 57, 58 to conductive discs 59, 60 carrying radially extendingconductive bars 61, 62. lBar 61 has four spaced spring wiper contacts Wlocated to contact arcuate contacts Cl-C4. Bar 62 has four other wipercontacts W located to contact arcuate contacts C5-C8. Bars 61 and 62 andtheir supporting discs 59, 66 are mounted on insulated shaft 63 of thecontrol and rotate together. The bars and discs are spaced apart so thatone power line can be disposed in circuit with contacts C1-C4 while theother power line can be disposed in circuit 'with contacts CS-CSdepending on the setting of the switch.

It will be noted from FIGS 1 and 4, that control/23 has fourcircumferentially spaced heat settings marked H114 .in addition toeanGFF 'positioT-Iln position H1, only lamp L1 is lit via contacts C1, C5.In position H2, lamps L1 and L2 are lit via pairs of contacts C1, C5 andC2, C6, respectively. In position H3, lamps L1, L2, L3 are lit via pairsof contacts C1, C5; C2, C6; and C3, C7, respectively. In position H4,all the lamps L1-L4 are lit |via pairs of contacts C1, C5; C2, C6; C3,C7; and C4, C8, respectively. Control 23 is thus a two-pole switcheffective to connect any desired number of lamps in parallel to thepower supply. Each lamp is used as a heat rather than a light source.yIn one practical installation, twenty-iive watt tubular incandescentlamps were used effectively.

Switch 27 isa double pole switch. One pole 701 is closed with contact 71while pole 72 is open; and pole 72 is closed with contact 73 while pole70 is open. The timer 31 has a thermal relay including a heating element74 which can be connected across the power lines 5-3, 54 when pole 72 isclosed with contact 73. A bimetallic element 75 is normally closed witha contact 76 and connected in parallel with pole 70 and contact 71.

In FIGS. 2 and 4, the timer 31 in the Off position and pole 70 is closedwith contact 71. -If the pole 70 is opened, pole 72 will iclose in theOn .timer position and element 74 will star-t to heat up. After apredetermined time, the thermal element 74 will cause the bimetallicelement 7S to sepa/rate fromv contact 76 to open the circuit normallyclosed through elements 75 and contact 76 and turn off the lamps andmotor. By closing pole 70 with contact 71 lthe timer 31 is deactivatedand power is continuously supplied to the lamps and motor. When thetimer is activated, the lamps will be energized along with the motor foronly the preset time of the timer.

In operation of the device, the physician or a nurse will place aIbottle 48 of frozen plasma on shelf 42 and secure it between the springfingers 46, `47 and 50, 51.

Timer switch 27 may be in Uit position. By plugging cord 41 into asuitable power outlet, the lamps L1-L4 will become energized and the-motor 34 will turn shaft 36 and disc 40 continuously funtil the plasmabecomes sufiiciently fluid and heated. If the switch 27 is set to Onposition, .then the lamps will be lit only for a predetermined time longenough for the thermal element '74 to cause contacts 75, 76 to openwhereupon the motor will stop and the lamps will be turned off. Thenumber of lamps which will be on during the operating cycle will dependon the setting of control knob 23a. In settings HIL-H4, respectively,one, two, three or four lamps, respectively, will be on. The container48 is mounted on the shelf 42 to rotate on an laxis perpendicular to theaxis of the disc 40.

The plasma will thus be heated and simultaneously stirred in thecontainer to homogeneity while 'being heated for the required length oftime. No attention of the physician or nurse will be required since thedevice can be set to turn off automatically when heating is completed.The container of plasma heats uniformly throughout. The turning of thebottle in a plane perpendicular to the axis of the disc 40I and shaft 36keeps the air in the box circulating during the entire operating cycle.This distributes the heated air convection currents in the casinguniformly. The bottle is also heated by direct radiant energy from theadjacent lamps. The asbestos or other insulation lining prevents heatloss, shortens heating time, and increases eliiciency of the heatingcycle to the optimum. Of course the cover 14 is closed during theheating cycle.

Upon completion of the heating cycle, the cover is opened and the bottleof plasma is ready for use. The device can v'also be used for defrostingand heating other iiuids such as milk, fruit juices and other liquidfoods, and the like.

While we have illustrated and described the preferred embodiment of ourinvention, it is to \be understood that we do not limit ourselves-totheprecise constructi,orrlgregegl l the casing, means for energizing themotor and lamps,

switch rneansfor turning the motor and ylamps on and off, said casinghaving a cover and being lined with insulation material -for retainingheat within the casing, said support including a rdisc supported on theshaft of the motor, a shelf on the disc for supporting a container, andspring means carried by the disc for detachably engaging a containerwhile supported on the shelf, said switch means including a multipleposition switch for selectively energizing a selected number of saidlamps at a time, said spring means including arcuate spring iingersadapted to engage the body of a bottle-shaped container and smallerspring `fin-gers shaped to engage the neck portion of a bottle-shapedcontainer.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,135,473 Vath Apr. 13, 1915 1,440,519 Woodson Jan. 2, 1923 1,785,079Grapp Dec. 16, 1930 1,870,476 Badcock Aug. 9, 1932 1,971,012 MacDonaldAug. 21, 1934 2,824,943 Laughlin Feb. 25, 1958 2,839,989 Persinger June24, 1958 2,885,952 Campbell May 12, 1959 2,931,882

Strauss Apr. 5, 1960

